And Bright
by The Passionate Admiral
Summary: A contemplation on Pouncival's perspective during the Mating Dance and after the Jellicle Ball. There are a few powerful Pouncival/Bombalurina moments in it. My 7th CATS fanfic.
1. A Fantasy Becomes Real

And Bright

Author: The Passionate Admiral

Rating: K+

Disclaimer: I do not own CATS. If I did, Pouncival would say more than just two words solo in the whole of the musical.

Plot: This fanfic is my thoughts on Pouncival's perspective during the Mating Dance session of the Jellicle Ball and after the Ball itself.

In a certain junkyard in the middle of London, a tribe of cats known as the Jellicle cats was performing its most important tradition: the annual ball.

At the time in general, the Jellicles were undergoing the first half of the all-dancing part of the Ball. Several of the kittens were anxiously looking forward to the Mating Dance. Some of them had already made preparations.

But the youngest of the toms had decided to wait and see who would choose him.

This tom, named Pouncival, was with some of his friends in the junkyard's clearing, and they prepared for the Mating Dance to begin.

Pouncival was one of the knockabout troublemakers of the tribe, and he could cause all forms of mischief, but most of the time, he could be very well-behaved, sympathetic, and warm to his family, friends, and others.

He and his friends watched as Victoria, the oldest queen-kit, slowly approached Plato, who had chosen her to mate with him. The two of them slowly approached each other, and Victoria turned her back to Plato. He ran his front paws down her back, and held onto her waist with them. He held onto her tightly and lifted her in the air over his head.

The two of them held that position for a few seconds, and then Plato rested Victoria's body on his shoulder. He ran one of his paws down her leg to begin the mating process.

All around them, everybody else started to get paired up. Some of the unpaired toms did handstands to alert one of the unpaired queens to approach them. Pouncival was one of these toms.

Pouncival gracefully balanced himself on his front paws and waited in midair.

_Okay, this is it, Pounce, _he thought to himself, _just remember what Mom said: Whenever a queen selects you, be kind, be gentle, be thankful and, above all, do not hurt her._

He frowned to himself and thought _I don't even know why she added in that last pointer. I mean, sure I have been known to suffer uncontrollable spasms occasionally, like when I accidentally scratched Grizabella earlier (Oh my EC, I still can't believe that happened!), but I'm not really clumsy. Surely she would know that I wouldn't hurt a queen, especially if she was going to mate with me._

Pouncival hoped that the mating dance would go well. Granted, he had already had plenty of fun and excitement at the ball, but not everything had gone smoothly.

Pouncival had been scolded by Jennyanydots for interrupting her song (TWICE), he had been tripped by Rum Tum Tugger during his song, Bustopher Jones had knocked him over with his spoon during his song, and Munkustrap had caused him to fall onto his face during the Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles skit. He hoped that at least the Mating Dance would run without error. After all, it was his first Mating Dance; he wanted it to be memorable (That is, memorable in a good way).

_I wonder who will approach me, _Pouncival thought to himself, _I just hope that I actually DO get picked and I'm not just left on my own. Tumble would never let that go. But I guess I can't really blame him for that; I mean, if he was left alone and I got to mate with someone, I wouldn't let the matter go either._

Just then, he felt a paw running down (technically "up," since he was doing a handstand) his stomach. The paw was soft and gentle; the queen it belonged to had such delicate posture.

As Pouncival started lowering himself to the ground, he thought to himself _Okay, this is it. Don't freak out._ He also thought _I wonder who it is. Maybe it's Jemima- No, no, no. Even though she and I are good friends, I know she's interested in my brother. Besides, she and Tumble belong with each other. Maybe it's Electra. Nope; couldn't be. Even though we have similar interests, I don't think she'd pick me. Maybe it's Etcetera. Yeah, it could be Cetty. She and I get along pretty well. Oh, wait a minute; I just remembered that Admetus asked her to perform the dance with him just before the ball. Oh well, I should probably stop ranting in my thoughts and see who it really is_.

Pouncival turned to face the queen that had selected him. When he saw who she was, his jaw almost dropped to the ground.

The queen was Bombalurina! It was the Red Queen of the Junkyard herself.

Pouncival was at a complete loss for words. He knew that Bombalurina was aware of the mad crush he had on her, but he had no idea that his feelings for her were mutual, or that she would reciprocate his affection!

Nervously, Pouncival said "Umm… uh, h-h-h-hi, Bomby."

She just smiled and said warmly "Hi, Pouncival."

Pouncival desperately thought of something to say. He decided to say the most basic thing in the book: "Y-y-you l-look nice toni-i-ight."

He thought to himself _Pouncival, you idiot, stop stuttering. You're making yourself look bad._

He quickly said "I-I-I'm s-sorry if I s-sound ner-ner-nervous; I-I just… I just…"

Bombalurina brought her paw up to his lips and placed it there. She said sensually "Shhh… There's no need for any talking."

Pouncival quickly shut his mouth. He then realized that this was not a dream, or a fantasy. He was definitely awake, and Bombalurina was going to mate with him!

Pouncival did one more handstand, and then he eased himself down on the ground. He gently moved Bombalurina onto her back and the two of them closed into an embrace.

They quickly began the mating process. All around them, everybody else was doing the same thing.

Pouncival nuzzled his head against Bombalurina's; she purred in arousal. Both of them stroked each other on the cheeks and on the sides, and then they began the most exciting part.

Both of them breathed in deeply as they went through the mating process. But they made sure not to breath in too loudly, lest they disturb the others working around them.

Even though this was his first time performing the Mating Dance, Pouncival instinctively knew how to carry out the whole process.

The chemistry between him and Bombalurina quickly accelerated. A certain form of pleasure started encompassing both of them. Pouncival had never felt such bliss in his entire life. He felt the strange desire to just lie there forever, holding Bombalurina in his arms.

Finally, the mating process was over. But the energy remained a little while longer.

Neither he nor Bombalurina spoke for a few moments. Pouncival decided to look around for his brother, Tumblebrutus. He spotted him just a couple feet away. Tumble had just finished mating with Jemima, and she was resting in his arms.

Tumble gave his brother a congratulating nod; Pouncival gave him one in response. Then the two of them returned their attention to their partners.

"For a first timer, you were great, Pounce," Bombalurina smiled up at him.

Pouncival lightheartedly shrugged and said "You'll find that I'm full of surprises, Bomby."

"I'll bet you are," she nodded

The two of them, like everyone else around them, soon drifted off into a peaceful slumber.

Note: The "After Ball" part will be in the second chapter. I'll put that chapter up sometime within the next forty-eight hours.


	2. Envious

Note: Sorry about the wait. This week and next week, my high school is doing Advanced Placement Exams (for college credit). I'm taking three: Chemistry II, Calculus AB, and Statistics. The Chemistry one was on Monday, and I'm sure that that was definitely the hardest of the three. I wasn't in the mood to do much when I got home then; I just wanted to rest. Last night, I needed to study for the Calculus Exam. I took that one today, and, I must say, it was much easier than I thought it would be. Anyway, my third and final one (Statistics) is not until next Wednesday, and I have nothing major in school going on tomorrow, so I decided to finish up his fic like I promised. Well, enough droning on. Hope you enjoy the second (and final) part of this!

After "The Ad-dressing of Cats" had ended, everyone prepared to get some rest. Even though it was now morning, all the dancing and singing from the previous night had tired them all out.

Before going to his den, Pouncival went out of the clearing to spend some time with Tumblebrutus and their friends Quaxo, Plato, and Admetus near the front of the junkyard. The five young toms talked about the previous night's events, and which songs had been their favorite and least favorite.

They also told some jokes. Plato, being the one with the most disturbing sense of humor, said to the others: "Guys, here's a joke I just made up. What's the quickest and most effective way to kill a stupid human teenager?"

Everyone looked at Plato in surprise. Quaxo tried to answer the joke first "Tell them to not feed the cat?"

Plato scoffed and said "That would be one quick way, but not quick enough."

The other toms tried to guess the answer to the joke, but they just could not guess it. Finally, Plato told them the answer: "Text them while they're driving."

He looked around at them, with an expression on his face that jovially said "Right? Right?"

No one laughed. They just stared at him blankly. Finally, Quaxo said "Plato, that was not funny at all."

"Yeah, that was actually kind of offensive," Admetus agreed.

"Offensive to who?" said Plato "To humans? What do they care what we think of them. They don't even seem to understand us."

"Whatever," said Tumblebrutus.

The toms decided to talk about the ball some more. It wasn't long until they got to talking about the mating dance portion. Plato had mated with Victoria, Quaxo had mated with Electra, Admetus had mated with Etcetera, and Tumblebrutus had mated with Jemima.

Of course, there were five tom-kits in the tribe, but only four queen-kits. That singled out Pouncival as the one that mated with an adult queen.

"So, who did you mate with, Pounce?" inquired Admetus

Tumble then looked at his younger brother with a look of admiration and put his arm around his shoulders. Then he turned to the other toms and told them "Did you guys know that Pouncival mated with Bombalurina?"

Quaxo, Admetus, and Plato could not believe their ears. Pouncival was the youngest of their group, and yet the most flirtatious queen in the entire tribe had chosen him to mate with her.

"NO… Freaking… Way!" said Admetus

"You certainly are a lucky tom, Pounce," Plato nodded.

"Congratulations, buddy," Quaxo smiled at his friend.

"Thanks, guys," said Pouncival, "I myself couldn't believe it at first, but my experience of the event convinced me that it was one hundred percent real."

At that time, Pouncival was directly facing the other four toms. Right then, Admetus looked up. He saw something approaching the group from behind Pouncival. When he realized what it was, he took a step back in worry.

Quaxo noticed this and asked his friend "What's wrong, Admetus?"

Admetus directed Quaxo to what had caught his attention via the use of his eyes. When Quaxo saw what it was Admetus had spotted, he took a step back in alarm as well.

Soon, Plato and Tumblebrutus noticed the same thing, and they both took a step back.

Pouncival, noticing that his friends seemed to be cowering in fear, asked them "Guys? What's wrong?"

"Pounce, you may want to turn around," Admetus cautioned him.

Pouncival looked slightly over his shoulder, but saw nothing. Then he turned around. The next thing he saw was a paw being flung directly at his face.

To avoid being hit, Pouncival backflipped away from the paw. He landed on his hind feet perfectly. As he rebounded, he saw who the paw belonged to.

It belonged to Rum Tum Tugger. Pouncival looked up at the Maine Coon, and he saw that an expression of anger and malevolence had come across his face.

"What the hell is your problem, Tugger?" he demanded angrily.

Tugger didn't answer that question. He just tried to strike Pouncival again and again, but Pouncival was very agile. He managed to dodge all of Tugger's blows.

The other toms quickly came to Pouncival's aid. Plato and Admetus managed to overpower and restrain Tugger while Quaxo and Tumblebrutus stood in front of Pouncival as if to protect him.

Rum Tum Tugger just glared at Pouncival with his appearance of stone cold fury. He spoke through gritted teeth "You… little… bastard! How DARE you mate with Bombalurina!"

"Hey, she chose me," Pouncival argued, standing in front of Quaxo and Tumblebrutus.

"Just because you had to mate with Jennyanydots, that doesn't mean you can take your anger out on Pouncival," Admetus sharply remarked at Tugger.

"Wait, did he actually mate with Jenny?" said Quaxo.

"Yes, he did," Admetus smirked, "Cetty and I were right next to them."

Tugger managed to break free of Plato and Admetus. He walked closer to Pouncival, looked him straight in the eye, and said "Just because Bomba mated with you, that doesn't mean anything will come out of it other than a one-night stand."

"Why do you care?" Pouncival spat back, "You just flirt with every available queen in the whole of the tribe."

"Bombalurina is MINE!" shouted Tugger.

"No, she's not yours," said Pouncival, "She's not mine, either. She doesn't belong to any tom in the tribe. She belongs to herself."

The other toms seemed somewhat impressed by Pouncival's last statement. Tugger was just being his usually egocentric self, but Pouncival was being much more of a gentletom than Tugger was being.

"I have an idea," Tugger grinned wickedly, "Let's fight for her."

Pouncival simply brought a leering smile onto his face and said "If that is what you want, then you're on. I'll try not to humiliate you too much."

Tugger and Pouncival faced each other off. Tumblebrutus, Quaxo, Admetus, and Plato stood around them, cheering them on.

"Queens first," said Pouncival.

This comment instigated the fight. Tugger lunged at Pouncival. The knockabout cat simply did a cartwheel out of the way just in time, and watched as Tugger flew into a garbage pile.

"Oooh, you missed me!" said Pouncival.

Tugger got up and swiped viciously at Pouncival. Pouncival managed to dodge just about every single blow that Tugger delivered. After a while, Tugger was starting to become exhausted from all his failed attempts to hit Pouncival. But eventually, he managed to hit Pouncival directly in the stomach. That blow knocked the wind out of Pouncival, who needed to stop to catch his breath.

Tugger just chuckled, obviously pleased with himself, and said "Let's just conclude that I win. There's no need for any more of this pointless violence to go on, now is there?"

Pouncival looked up at Tugger and mouthed the words "Shove it up your ass" as he struggled to regain his breath. He was still standing on his hind feet, but he was leaning over and clutching his stomach.

Just then, a feminine voice said from on top of a nearby junkpile "Guys, what are you doing over here?"

The six toms looked in the direction of the voice, and they saw Bombalurina coming closer to them.

"Tugger and Pouncival were having a little quarrel," Quaxo enlightened Bomba.

"Over what?" the Red Queen asked as she approached the group.

"Over you," Tumblebrutus answered.

"Me?" said Bomba, as she looked back and forth at Tugger and Pouncival.

She saw that Pouncival was holding his front, and he appeared to be injured. But Bomba went over to Tugger and asked him "Are you alright?"

Tugger answered her "Yeah, I'm fine," as he smiled vainly, looking at Pouncival from the corner of his eye.

Pouncival quickly regained his breath, but he could not believe what he was seeing. Even though he was the one that had gotten wounded, Bombalurina was more concerned with how Tugger was!

_Maybe Tugger's right, _Pouncival thought to himself, _Maybe it was just a one-time thing… Oh, well, that's what I get for having high hopes. I guess I was a fool for thinking that Bombalurina would like me when she already has someone like Tugger._

Bombalurina asked Tugger "Are you SURE you're alright?"

Tugger nodded and said "I am quite sure."

Bombalurina then brought a devious grin onto her face and said "Good." Then she gave Tugger a hefty push, knocking him onto his back.

"Hey, what was that for?" Tugger yelled at Bomba while he was on the ground.

"For being a shameless hypocrite," she explained, "For dropping me during your song, and for trying to bring harm to a cat that's only slightly over two-thirds your size."

Pouncival and the other younger toms watched Bombalurina in amazement. Bombalurina then turned around, smiled at Pouncival, went over to him, and asked him "I hope you're not hurt."

"Oh, don't worry about that, Bomby," he smiled at her, "I am quite alright. I just needed a moment to regain my breath."

Bombalurina turned to Tugger and scowled at him. She said "Don't get up, Tugger; I'll just knock you on your ass again."

"I'd be happy to help you," said Pouncival.

Bombalurina chuckled at that statement. Then she asked Pouncival "Pounce, were you and Tugger really fighting over me?"

"Well, truthfully, yes," said Pouncival, "But I feel that it was wrong. For a very thorough yet vague reason, I might add."

"What do you mean?" Bombalurina asked.

"Well, I do know that most of the time, any queen would be happy to see a few toms fight each other to see who would gain her favor," Pouncival explained, "But sometimes, the toms are not just competing for her affection; their also competing for HER. You see, that makes me feel like my 'actual' reasons for fighting were so that I would gain possession of 'SOMETHING.'"

Bombalurina looked touched by Pouncival's words. She had a quick realization and asked "Pouncival, did you lose on purpose so that you would not have to be fighting with such thoughts in your mind?"

"Truthfully, I did," Pouncival admitted.

Bombalurina turned to the other toms and told them "You see? Pouncival is funny, charming, intelligent, and he cares about other people's wants and needs."

"Why, thank you," Pouncival smiled.

"Now you…" she spoke directly towards Tugger "You're just a big mouth surrounded by a mane."

"Oooooooooh!" shouted Plato.

"Buuuuurrrrn!" remarked Admetus.

"You want some ice with that burn?" asked Tumble sacrasstically.

Tugger just got back onto his feet, fluffed out his mane, and walked off, saying over his shoulder "That's fine by me. I don't care, anyways. If you prefer this... this... KITTEN over me, go right ahead. I, unlike him, have several other queens to turn to."

Then Tugger left the clearing.

"I guess somebody's jealous," said Quaxo.

The others gave brief mutters of agreement. Then Quaxo and the other toms agreed to leave Pouncival and Bombalurina alone.

Pouncivval turned to Bombalurina and smiled at her. He said "I was about to go to bed, but it is already morning. Besides, I'm not really that tired."

"Truthfully, neither am I," said Bomba.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

"Yes, I haven't eaten all night," she said.

"How about we go to my den for breakfast?" Pounce offered.

Bomba smiled at him and said "I'd like that."

Without another word spoken, the two of them made their way to Pouncival's den.

Just a few weeks later, the two of them became mates.

Note: This is just a subliminal message for anybody here who may not already know what I am about to tell them. In the actual play of CATS (not the movie version), after the cast comes out to recieve their recognition, all the cats except Bombalurina and Rum Tum Tugger get off the stage. Bombalurina actually DOES knock Tugger on his ass! (I guess that was to get back for when he dropped her during his song).


End file.
